A few words of encouragement
by sourmoebot
Summary: What if a few words of encouragement changed the life of someone. What if these few words gave someone the confidence they needed to continue in life and truly change? Takes place during the preliminary battles in the Chunin exam arc. One-Shot. I also decided to put this in one of my stories as a chapter for the prelim battles later on.


**This story was stuck in my head for a while so I wanted to write it, and I thought you guys might enjoy it. I will have it uploaded and I want to see if you guys like it enough so that I can continue it. Do not hesitate to tell me if it sucks or if you want to see more of the story.**

**Chapter 1 - inexistent fate**

She looked at the giant screen.

_Hyuga Hinata vs Hyuga Neji_

Hyuga Neji smirked while Hyuga Hinata gulped. The boy jumped down from the stairs and landed softly on the right side of the arena, glaring at the girl who walked slowly down the stairs. One hand grabbed her shoulder, causing the meek girl to turn around to come face to face with a happy looking blonde boy with cerulean blue eyes. He smiled and said "Good luck Hinata! Go kick his ass!"

The meek girl blushed and smiled at her crush and then nodded. These words changed the playing field, these words filled the girl with strength, giving the girl the power of determination and to never give up. Hinata continued her walk until she was in front of her cousin, Neji. "I never thought I'd be facing you...Hinata-sama" said the male genin in front of her, the last part dripping with venom.

"Brother Neji" said Hinata silently, the glare she was getting from Neji frightened her.

"Now begin the match!" yelled the proctor as he coughed and moved out of the way.

The two stood there, looking at each other for a few minutes until Neji moved a step forwards, causing the shy girl to step back. "I'd like to say something...Hinata-sama" The girl in question blinked, a bit confused "Before we fight, I suggest you forfeit now, you wouldn't make a good shinobi anyways, you are too weak."

Those words re-played into her mind, and then the blonde's words re-played as well. Both statements were different, they counteracted each other. One made her seem weak while the other made her seem strong. One made her mad, angry, while the other made her strong and proud. She chose to be angry, to be angry at her surrogate brother for saying these things, she loved him as a brother yet he did not. She forgave him for all the horrible things he has done to her in the past but yet, he hated her. _"Enough is enough" _Thought the girl as she glared back at her brother "Just because I purposely lose on our fights doesn't mean I'm weak" said the girl, causing everyone to be surprised. No one has ever heard the girl squeak any words out without stuttering or fainting right after but she said a complete sentence in front of her cousin who just shot her down. _"I can't believe Hinata just taunted her cousin!" _was the thought that was going on through most of the watchers of the battle.

"You did not purposely lose on our fights! You are weak willed! You have no self confidence! You didn't even want to be here did you! You unwillingly entered this exam because it needed to be taken in teams of three, so give up that false facade and submit to fate!" yelled Neji in anger _"How dare she mock me!"_

"I wanted to change myself" said Hinata with confidence "I chose to do it because I wanted to do it"

_"Hinata is trying to change herself..." _Thought Kurenai, Hinata's jounin sensei.

"Hinata-sama. As I thought, you are a spoiled brat of the main house" This statement confused Hinata, causing her to give out an audible "huh?" to the crowd "People cannot change themselves!" yelled Neji in anger.

_"What does that have to do with anything?!" _Thought Hinata in confusion.

Neji continued as he stepped forward "Losers are losers" He took another step "Their personality and strength will not change."

_"That guy!" _Thought Naruto, the blonde who gave the words of encouragement to Hinata, in anger.

"Because people cannot change, differences are born" said Neji as he took yet another step towards Hinata "Expressions like elite and loser are created" This caused Hinata and Naruto to audibly flinch. She hated being called a loser and strived to be better, to become the heiress her father has intended for her to be, but here was someone in front of her who just said that she cannot change her self _"I will change, and there is nothing this...this jerk can do to stop me!" _Thought Hinata with confidence as Neji continued his speech "Looks, brains, ability, size, personality...all people judge in these values" another step was taken "Based on these unchangeable factors, people discriminate and are discriminated against and they suffer within their own means...just like the fact that I am from the branch house and you are from the main house cannot be changed" Neji glared at Hinata, this time it was filled with killer intent "I have seen many things with my byakugan...so I know that you are just" He smirked "acting strong, deep inside you just want to run away from here."

"Are you done with your monologue?" asked Hinata sarcastically, causing Neji to activate his byakugan to give an even stronger glare towards the girl. Everyone else audibly gasped "Because I want to start this fight right now" _"I can't believe I just said that! Well I got nothing else to lose now" _Thought Hinata as she gave Neji a smirk and got into her jyuken stance.

"YEAH HINATA! GO KICK THAT BASTARD'S ASS!" Yelled Naruto from the stands _"I like this new Hinata" _He though as he looked down to see that the lavender eyed girl look at him with a radiant smile that confirmed the confidence oozing out of her.

_"This confidence stuff is easy, I even got accepted for acting like this by Naruto-kun" _Thought Hinata as she looked back at Neji with a smirk "So are you ready?"

Neji looked back at her, his byakugan still active, giving the impression of a powerful glare and said "So you won't forfeit...I guess I'm not responsible for what happens."

"I'm not going to give up" said Hinata as she stepped forwards towards Neji "I'm no longer that weak, weird and shy girl everyone thinks I am! I'm Hinata Hyuga, and I'll be the best Hyuga leader in all of Konoha!"

_"That...That is something I would say" _Thought Naruto as he couldn't help but grin at the girl who is currently fighting an inner battle within herself.

_Did I say it too much like Naruto-kun? What would he think of me? Is he mad that I copied him?" _She thought as she looked up to see him wildly grinning, and when their eyes met, he smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Hinata smiled back and looked back at Neji, bringing her fingers together to form a seal, activating her byakugan for the first time during the match "I'm ready...big brother."

"Hn" was the response from Neji as he got into the jyuken fighting stance. Hinata did the same, but her stance seemed a bit different, almost looser than the normal style. Hinata moved forwards as she began to strike Neji, who tried to block but her attacks flowed through his blocks and managed to hit him.

Guy, Neji's sensei, gasped "She...she is countering the Hyuga fighting style so efficiently!" said Guy, causing everyone on the stand to look at him. Guy gave them his traditional good guy pose and continued to speak "You see, Hinata here is full of the fiery passion of youth! She managed to use her jyuken style as an attack stance instead of a defensive one" This caused the jounin to nod while some of the genin gave confused faces.

"I don't understand bushier brow-sensei" said Naruto with a thinking face.

Guy, still in his good guy pose, spoke again "Look at Neji's stance and tell me what you see" Naruto complied and watched Neji's fight. He then looked back at guy and said "I see Neji get his ass handed to him by Hinata!"

This was loud enough for Hinata to hear and she blush, but other than that, the fight continued with Neji moving backwards, attempting to dodge Hinata's flowing movements so that she wouldn't close his tenketsu points.

Guy shook his head left and right and said "Naruto, when Neji was in his stance, he wasn't moving his feet forwards like Hinata, instead he keeps them steady, making him an immovable force...like a mountain" Naruto nodded. He could see that Neji tried to keep his place but couldn't since Hinata is pushing him back "but Hinata's fighting style is different, she moves forwards, flowing through Neji's defences, sort of like...water" Guy finished as he continued to watch the fight in awe.

"Oh I get it!" yelled Naruto out loud, causing Sakura to punch him in the head "Shut up Naruto-baka!"

Hinata pushed forwards, but as she did, Neji smirked. _"What is he..." _She thought as Neji was enveloped by blue chakra, causing Hinata's attacks to be negated. Neji then spun around at a high speed, causing the chakra to spin along with him and create a spherical shield, pushing away Hinata.

Guy, yet again, gasped. Causing everyone to look at him again. Guy caught on that and said "That was Hakkesho Kaiten, the ultimate defence of the Hyuga. It is only known to the main house members when they are ready enough so I have no idea how Neji learned it."

"Never thought I had to use that. I have to admit that you are stronger than before Hinata-sama, but I am destined by fate to win this match so just give up" said Neji as he walked towards Hinata and kicked her in the stomach, causing her to fly back a bit. Hinata, who was now on the floor bleeding and bruised, stood back up. "So this is it" said Neji as he brushed some dust off "The extent of the main house's strength." Neji smirked.

Hinata stood back up, albeit with a bit of a struggle. She was bruised and started to bleed from her mouth more and more. She clenched her teeth and said "I'm not done yet."

Neji, who was hurt from Hinata's earlier attacks, started to attack Hinata. The two attacked each other at the same time, causing everyone to be confused. Hinata's attacks landed every time, while Neji's landed every few times, causing the trade off to be in Hinata's favour, yet Neji continued as though he wasn't being attacked by Hinata. Hinata caught on to this and jumped back, bleeding more from her mouth.

"It seems that you have caught on" said Neji with a smirk. He was unscathed from the fight, confusing everyone in the match.

Guy was watching intently until he felt his vest being pulled. He looked down at who it was and saw Naruto. "Um, bushier brow-sensei, Hinata's attacks have been landing perfectly, so why isn't Neji hurt?"

Guy, who turned to look at Neji, said almost to himself "Neji is a true genius."

Naruto was confused but decided not to push it, bushier brow-sensei is really weird. Hinata was trying to understand Neji's plan until it hit her. She unzipped her jacket to see bruised points on wrists "So you finally understand" said Neji with a smirk "During the Kaiten, I blocked your chakra points on your wrists so that you cannot output chakra from your hands."

Hinata, who was glaring at Neji with her byakugan, took off her shoes and socks, then used her feet to unblock the tenketsu points on her wrists. Neji blinked at the rather unique way she used to unblock her tenketsu points. Hinata smirked and threw a smoke bomb from her pouch on the ground.

Neji tried to see through the smoke cloud but it contained bits of chakra within it, making it harder to see so he just waited for Hinata to get out or for the smoke cloud to dissipate. He was intently looking around if he was getting flanked until he heard Hinata shout "Kage-bunshin no jutsu!" causing twelve Hinatas to appear from within the smoke cloud and run towards Neji. "H-how" said Neji as he prepared himself to do kaiten again.

_"Impossible" _Thought Kurenai as she watched the clones of Hinata run towards Neji, byakugan active.

"WOW! I DIDN'T KNOW THAT HINATA CAN DO THE KAGE-BUNSHIN JUTSU!" yelled Naruto.

Once the clones reached Neji, he activated Kaiten, only for the clones to pass through them. Neji, confused stopped the kaiten only to receive multiple hits from Hinata in front of him. "You're not the only one with tricks, nee-san" said Hinata as she kept attacking Neji.

"I'm confused" said Naruto to no one in particular. He got hit in the head by Sakura as she scolded him for being an idiot as Kakashi explained "You see, Hinata used the bunshin no jutsu instead of kage-bunshin, but in the smoke cloud, she yelled Kage-bunshin to trick Neji into using Kaiten" said Kakashi.

"But isn't Neji's byakugan allowed to see through the genjutsu?" asked Sakura.

"Yes, and I have to say that I have no idea how she managed to trick him there" said Kakashi. Kurenai, who was listening stepped in "I may be able to tell you how" Everyone turned to look at her "You see, Hinata used a genjutsu within the bunshin no jutsu that gave the bunshin an inner coil system, making it seem as though they were actual kage bunshin but in reality they are not."

"So Hinata used a genjutsu, within the bunshin no jutsu?" said Sakura in confusion "But I thought the byakugan can see through most genjutsu."

"Yes it can see through most genjutsu, but Hinata added fifteen layers of genjutsu within each bunshin, making it harder for the byakugan to determine the difference between a genjutsu and real jutsu." said Kurenai. She was surprised and proud of her student's well use of genjutsu.

"Wow! Hinata is so cool!" yelled Naruto, who got hit in the head by Sakura who called him a baka.

Neji, who was still in a confused trance, managed to use Kaiten again causing Hinata to fly back and hit the wall hard. The male Hyuga's bloodline deactivated due to the use of too much chakra. Hinata, who used up an equal amount of chakra, still had her byakugan activated, stood up as she intends to finish this fight. "I" cough "see that y-you have become stronger, b-but" cough "Fate is not on your side Hinata-sama." said Neji as he walked slowly towards Hinata "I saw that you have fully depleted yourself with that last jutsu, and now you have no chakra, while I have some left."

Hinata who was breathing hard as blood dripped from her mouth said "I" cough "don't" wheeze "go back" blood dripped from her mouth "on my word" Her face became pale "That is" the veins near her eyes began to stick out more "also my ninja way."

_"Hinata" _Thought Naruto as he looked at the girl that he has come to respect.

"GAH" yelled Hinata as more blood dripped from her mouth. Her internal injuries caused by Neji from the first and third Kaiten was too much for her, yet she still stood up, her byakugan active even though little to no chakra is left in her body.

"Give up Hinata-sama, say the words 'I forfeit' " said Neji.

"No!" she yelled "I told you, I won't give up!" yelled Hinata as she walked slowly towards the male Hyuga in front of her "I may have no chakra left but I can still defeat you."

Neji smirked as he re-activated his byakugan "So be it...Hinata-sama." The Hyuga student of Guy rushed towards the lavender eyed girl with a strike that was intended to kill. Neji's strike was aimed to the chest, specifically the heart, but with Hinata's activated byakugan, she flowed through it and softly said "You are in range of my divination" Neji, surprised, tried to dodge her Hakke Sanjuni Sho (Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms) but ultimately failed, causing him to fall to the ground, paralyzed from Hinata's attack.

Hinata walked towards her fallen cousin and said "Neji-nee-san, when I become clan leader, I'll change the hyuga, I'll fix the problems between the two houses" and with that, the meek girl fell on the floor, blood still dripping from her mouth, her byakugan was finally deactivated, and she was laying on the floor, with a smile. _"I did it." _The medic team went in to carry the unconcious Neji and the still awake Hinata to the hospital.

"Winner, Hyuga Hinata"


End file.
